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Does buying magic kill creativity?

I have been thinking about this question a lot lately. Someone had asked me this and I didnt no how to respond. It seems that the ability to buy magic tricks whenever you need to means magicians dont have to be creative and come up with their own ideas. At the same time, buying magic gives you a better understanding of the techniques out there and eventually you will be able to become independant.

Believe those who are seeking the truth. Doubt those who find it. ~Andre Gide

Buying magic in itself most certainly helps your creativity. It's like an artist buying paints. The more colors you have, the more colorful your artwork can be. On the other hand... if you could go out and buy magic anytime you want - I don't think that's healthy. If the artist didn't have to save up for those expensive tubes of oil point, he'd never learn how to mix his own colors first.

So I agree that it can kill creativity if you rely on it 100% for your magic. But for most people who have to save up their paychecks and allowance - it's good. It gets you thinking in the meantime.

Wouldn't it be great to have no prior knowledge of magic and it's secrets and just 'come up' with something new and totally off the hook?

Yes...that would be awesome. And practically impossible.

One thing leads to another, what you learn feeds your desire to learn more and to add yourself to everything you learn. From out of that gloopy pool of stuff...comes creativity.

I say buy with abandon.

You can never have too much magic, I still find little gems of information and new things I'd never even heard of from places i never would have suspected.

Case in point:

I recently bought Rehab, by Cameron Francis. Why did I buy 'another' torn and restored card trick when I already have several killers? No idea really...i was bored, fancied spending some money, I like BBM stuff so the deal was done. On the DVD were some bonus tricks and in there I learnt The Jordan Count, which I'd never heard of before. Could I have learn it from somewhere else? Most assuredly...but that's neither here nor there.

I also picked up Welcome To The Firm. Now, I'm only half way through that one but already i have been made privy to two of the most genius routines and sleights I've come across in years. Simply stunning. Your mind starts working overtime with the possibilities when you see such things.

Get your hands on as much material as you can, that's what I think. You don't have to practice it all to get worth from it, far from it. I'm still practicing the same things I was six months ago, but my mind is already thinking how these new things can help me in the future.

I know that if I wasn't able to buy magic, then my shows would most definitely suck. In all honesty, I'm far from creative and have trouble thinking of something on my own. That said, most of my original material comes from other effects where I change something small here and there, and then before I know it, the end result is nothing close to what I started off with.

Not everyone is a creative genius, and tricking yourself into thinking that is just doing more harm than good in my opinion.

Does buying magic kill creativity? Only if you let it It you become completely reliant on it then yes. But if you are trying to create your own stuff then knowing how other people have solved similar problems is often very useful. I have often had ideas which at first seem impractical until I think 'wait, I could use this move here' for example, then the idea becomes workable.

You could never buy anything, but you have an awful lot of stuff to reinvent, and you probably wouldb't be able to do it. Even if you did it would take numerous years.

I say take advantage of the fact that lots of clever people before use have done a lot of the hard work.

This is my opinion and hope it helps shed some light on your thought. Buying magic does not kill creativity, but the individual is behind the lack of creativity. When I purchase a trick, I am purchasing the handling. My creativity needs to kick in on the aspect of how to make this presentation mine. The actual trick is a small part of the presentation. How I choose to show the trick needs to be upto me to make it creative and unique.

Another thought on this is the thought of taking something existing and making it into something better. Today for example I was thinking of an existing trick and making it better. I now have to purchase the trick some time in the near future and add my touch to it if possible. So the thought of purchasing magic killing creativity is upto the person purchasing the trick. Like I said originally though, this is just my opinion.

Wouldn't it be great to have no prior knowledge of magic and it's secrets and just 'come up' with something new and totally off the hook?

Yes...that would be awesome. And practically impossible.

One thing leads to another, what you learn feeds your desire to learn more and to add yourself to everything you learn. From out of that gloopy pool of stuff...comes creativity.

I say buy with abandon.

You can never have too much magic, I still find little gems of information and new things I'd never even heard of from places i never would have suspected.

Case in point:

I recently bought Rehab, by Cameron Francis. Why did I buy 'another' torn and restored card trick when I already have several killers? No idea really...i was bored, fancied spending some money, I like BBM stuff so the deal was done. On the DVD were some bonus tricks and in there I learnt The Jordan Count, which I'd never heard of before. Could I have learn it from somewhere else? Most assuredly...but that's neither here nor there.

I also picked up Welcome To The Firm. Now, I'm only half way through that one but already i have been made privy to two of the most genius routines and sleights I've come across in years. Simply stunning. Your mind starts working overtime with the possibilities when you see such things.

Get your hands on as much material as you can, that's what I think. You don't have to practice it all to get worth from it, far from it. I'm still practicing the same things I was six months ago, but my mind is already thinking how these new things can help me in the future.

Buying magic in itself most certainly helps your creativity. It's like an artist buying paints. The more colors you have, the more colorful your artwork can be. On the other hand... if you could go out and buy magic anytime you want - I don't think that's healthy. If the artist didn't have to save up for those expensive tubes of oil point, he'd never learn how to mix his own colors first.

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We manufacture many of our own magic supplies, tricks, effects, and custom playing cards. We strive to create the very best magical products the world has ever seen. We work with the United States Playing Card co and have produced 14 lines of playing card decks that are repeatedly acclaimed by top industry pros and magic enthusiasts all over the world.